


Together's where we belong

by mgs3



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Major Character Injury, but everything will be fine don't worry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 06:01:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11685543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mgs3/pseuds/mgs3
Summary: Sana Bakkoush is the rising basketball star but her whole future crashes when she suffers from an injury during one of the most important games in her carreer.





	Together's where we belong

She didn’t remember the exact moment when it happened. She just heard a _crack_ and everything went black. Next thing she remembered was laying on the floor and pain. Terrible pain, the one that was impossible to describe. She didn’t have any memory of what happened afterwards, she only found out later when she finally was left alone and watched the recap of the game. She heard herself screaming and she never heard anyone scream like that, she never even thought a human being can scream so loudly. As soon as she fell down, the game was stopped and her teammates and other people surrounded her. Soon she was carried out by the paramedics and taken to the hospital. The next thing she remembered was her parents, her brothers and her sister-in-law, all next to her bedside.

Dislocated kneecap. Ruptured patellar ligament. Stress fracture. 

Lots of painkillers. Twelve MRIs. Six surgeries in three months. Zero improvement.

Yes, her knee was no longer bent in a weird shape. Her foot wasn’t swollen anymore. But could she move her leg? Barely. Could she walk? Not really. Could she play basketball? Probably never again. And for her that was it. If she couldn’t play basketball, she might as well die already, because there’s no point in living like that.

She has spent the last three months in the hospital, practically bedridden. During the first week she was on such strong anesthetics that she was unconscious almost all the time. Her family was always by her side, same with her high school friends. But what broke her heart was that her teammates practically abandoned her. At the beginning, they were visiting her every day, then their visits started to be less frequent, they would come every second or third day, but after the first month they started to make excuses like they are having a training or they are going somewhere and eventually they stopped visiting her at all. They were supposed to be all in this together*. But apparently for them she was no longer the part of the team, not now when her future career was at stake. Now she was left all alone.

She was the rising star of the Norwegian Basketball Women’s National Team. After she joined the team, they finally started winning games and at the age of 22 she was named the best shooting guard from Europe ever by the press and the experts. And that game was probably one of the most important ones in her career. No, it was the most important one. Headhunters from Minnesota Lynx came there just to see her play and it was obvious that they would offer her a place in their team after the game. But that never happened. Because her career has been interrupted.

She didn’t really had anyone to blame. No one pushed her, no one fouled her. The court wasn’t slippery, neither were her shoes. She just put her foot wrong (quite literally). It happens. It have happened to her before, foot injuries are very common in basketball. But this time her whole knee has bent, dislocating her kneecap and rupturing the patella. And that was it. The end of her career.

Everyone’s been telling her to think positive. And she was trying, she really was. But after a week or something she was tired of it. What was the point of thinking everything will get better if she knows it won’t?

 

*** 

 

After the ward round her father and Elias went outside to talk with her doctors. They were always doing this and she hated it. She knew it’s not going to get better, they really didn’t need to make it all such a secret, they could as well talk about it with her in the room.

“Isak!” she called his name, before he went through the door.

He looked around confused, trying to make up his mind whether he should go out and join the other doctors or stay with her. Finally, he closed the door.

“Tell me.” she said.

“What?”

“Tell me how it really is.”

“What do you mean, Sana? We just told you how it is. It’s getting better, your foot is no longer swollen and the knee starts to look really good so yeah, like they told you –”

“I know what they told me, Isak.” she interrupted him in the middle of the sentence. “But I want to know the truth.”

“But this is the truth.”

“No, Isak, we both know it’s not. If everything was okay, my father and my brother wouldn’t be talking to my doctors behind my back and then act like everything is great and tell me this bullshit about ‘positive thinking’. And I’m done with it. I’m done with positive thinking.” she said it all so fiercely that for a moment she wanted to apologize for jumping down his throat like this but she saw the hesitation on his face and decided not to give up and push him harder. “So I need you to tell me the truth. Come on, Isak. You owe me this.”

“What? I don’t own you anything.” he said confused.

“Yes, you do. You would never pass this biology exam in the second grade if I hadn’t helped you. But I did and now you’re a surgical intern.”

“Sana, I didn’t become a doctor just because you helped me study for one exam.” he said really offended. “Besides, I would pass it without your help, too.”

“Well, I doubt that. And if I hadn’t picked basketball over medicine, you wouldn’t graduate top of your class, because I would. And then you wouldn’t be an intern in the best hospital in Oslo, because I would take your place. So you wouldn’t be where you are now if it wasn’t for me. You’re welcome.” she said in one breath and he just rolled his eyes at her. “So. How’s it gonna be? Will you be honest with me this one time, Isabell?”

“Sana, I–”

“We’re best buds, Isak. Don’t forget about that.”

He was looking at her for a minute in complete silence. He looked behind to see if his supervisors are still in the hallway but when he saw they are so busy talking with Sana’s family, he finally started talking.

“It’s not good, Sana. I wish I could tell you that it really is, but it’s not. We weren’t lying when we said it’s getting better, because it is, but it’s not as good as we expected after six surgeries.”

She sat there dumbstruck, trying to process everything he has just said to her. _Not good._ She could feel how tears are flowing to her eyes but she managed to hold them back.

“Sana?” he asked as he approached her bed. She could see that he was thinking about reaching out his hand towards her but she just shook her head, she didn’t want any compassion.

“So what’s the prognosis? And don’t you dare to lie to me now.”

“We’ll run some more tests, but that’s all we can do now. There’s a lot of rehabilitation ahead of you, but there’s no need for you to stay in hospital any longer. You’ll probably be released home in two weeks time. ”

“And… and the basketball? Will I ever be able to play again?” she asked, dreading the answer. She knew what his answer will be, but she still needed to hear it from him.

“Everyone is different and every body reacts differently, so we can’t be sure how your body will react and what will happen and–”

“Isak? Just tell me.”

“You won’t. Not as a pro at least.”

And as he said that, she couldn’t hold back her tears any more.

 

***

 

Like Isak said, she was finally released home after two weeks. She had to move in to her parents house again because she was still having trouble walking and she couldn’t live on her own. And she hated it. She always hated having to rely on someone and now she needed help 24/7. She hated being a burden.

In the first week when she got back home, she really wanted to go back to hospital. It was easier there. Just white walls and plenty of flowers people kept sending her. But at home… at home everything was different. She wasn’t detached from her past any longer. On the walls there were photographs of her playing basketball, winning the tournaments, her trophies on the shelf. Everything here reminded her of what she lost. Of the life she was deprived of because of the stupid injury.

Her friends were constantly trying to cheer her up, they were always here, trying to keep her mind busy from thinking about basketball but it wasn’t working, it was only making things even worse. She didn’t want them here. She just wanted to be left alone. 

But she wasn’t alone, there was always someone in the house, it was as though they thought they must keep her safe from herself. And she hated it.

One afternoon she was laying on the couch, still in her pajamas, watching TV (or not really watching, she was switching channels every 5 seconds because there wasn’t anything worth of her attention on TV), when Elias took the remote control from her hand and switched it off.

“Hey! I was watching it!”

“No, Sana, you weren’t watching it, you were just changing channels! Seriously, Sana, I have enough of it. This needs to stop, I can’t do this anymore.”

“You? You can’t do this anymore?” she asked, she was getting more and more angry with every word “Well, guess what, Elias, it’s not about _you_ , okay? So leave me alone and give me back the remote.”

“Sana, come on. For the last two weeks you were just sleeping, eating, watching TV, and then sleeping again. This needs to end. You can’t torture yourself like that anymore.”

“Torture myself?” she snorted. “Really, Elias, I’m not torturing myself. This is my ‘quality me’ time.”

“Oh really?” he asked and she could hear in his voice that he didn’t believe in any of her words.

“Yep and now can you please give me back the remote?”

He looked at her helplessly and gave it to her. She muttered silent “thanks” and tried to focus on some culinary program on TV but Elias was still standing in front of her and she could see he wants to say something. Finally he gave up and started to walk out the room. But something must have changed his mind because he came back and sit down in front of her.

“It’s been two weeks, Sana. You know what they told you at the hospital.”

“Yep, that I’ll never be able to play again.” she said, turning up the volume.

“No. They haven’t said anything like that.”

“They didn’t have to. But that’s what they meant.”

“Sana… They said it will take some time before you get back in shape. But you definitely won’t do this by laying on the couch and eating chips and chocolate all day.”

She still tried to focus on the program (contestants just finished peeling carrots and were now preparing the ingredients for the carrot cake), but Elias was sitting exactly in front of her so it was kind of impossible to see anything except his head covering half of the TV screen. She finally sighed and looked at him.

“What do you want from me, Elias?”

“Rehabilitation. I want you to finally start your rehabilitation.”

“Elias, there’s no point in–”

“No, Sana.” he stopped her in the middle of the sentence. “You don’t know that. You don’t know what will happen, you don’t know if it’s going to get better or not. Yeah, maybe it won’t. But you can’t be sure of it. You have to try and see. So how’s it gonna be?”

 “You’re not gonna stop nagging me about this?” she sighed.

“Nope.” he answered smiling.

“And if I agree you will leave me alone and let me watch TV?”

“Yes.”

“Then… Wait. Are you talking to me now as my brother or as my manager?” she asked.

“Sana…” he sighed but she just raised her eyebrow. “As your brother. Always as your brother.”

“Then yes.”

“Yes?” he asked really happily.

“Yeah, I just said yes. Why are you so shocked?”

“I just thought I’ll have to persuade you longer.” he laughed.

“But let me get this straight. One month. And not any day longer. If I don’t see any improvement in one month, I quit. And you won’t push me. Okay?”

He looked at her hesitantly but he knew that’s one-way offer and he can’t negotiate with her so he just nodded.

“And now please get out of my view, I’m trying to watch something here.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I was thinking about making this a multichapter hence the title and we would meet you-know-who (no, not Voldemort) in the next chapter but I'm not sure if it's any good so [let me know](vildeliens.tumblr.com/ask) if you'd like to read more <3  
> (Also I don't know if these injuries are really that bad? idk they sound serious though)  
> P.S. [*war flashbacks*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbrbUfYSt0E)


End file.
